Tobacco hand tie leaf cutter



w. B. LAUDER TOBACCO HAND TIE LEAF CUTTER July 7, 1959 Filed April so, 1956 I 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 R mu A N L E B R m W ATTORNEY July 7, 1959 w. B. LAUDER TOBACCO HAND TIE LEAF" CUTTER 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed April so, 1956 INVENTOR WALTER B. LAUDEH ATTONEY TOBACCO HAND TIE LEAF .CU'ITER Walter B. Lauder, Lexington, Ky., assignor to Brown &

Williamson Tobacco Corp., Louisville, Ky., a corporation of Kentucky Application April 30, 1956, Serial No. 581,488 6 Claims. (Cl. 131-149) This invention relates to an apparatus for cutting the tie leaf on hands of tobacco.

Tobacco as received by the manufacturer from the sales warehouse is tied in so called hands. These hands are match up of a batch of tobacco leaves tied together at their stem ends with a single leaf of tobacco, which latter is called the tie leaf.

The prime object of the present invention centers about the provision of a relatively simple and trouble-free apparatus for cutting the tie leaf with a minimum breakage of tobacco.

A tie leaf cutter is used as an attachment to or for a tipping table. A tipping table is a long conveyor on which tobacco hands are placed to be conveyed to knives which cut off the ends or tips of the leaf. .After tipping, the hands are fed further by the conveyor to pass under the tie leaf cutter. Tie leaf cutters of prior design are faulty and disadvantageous in that they require the operator to move the tie leaf in register with the tie leaf cutter, the cutter breaks up too much leaf, difiloulty is encountered in holding down .the hands of tobacco for the cutting operation and the apparatus used is subject to frequent breakdowns.

The apparatus of the present invention is designed and Constructed to obviate these faults and disadvantages of prior machines. By means of the apparatus of this invention, it is not required for an operator to move the hands into or to manually hold them down in register with the cutter, means being provided for feeding the hands to the cutter and effectively holding them down for the cutting operation, the blades of the cutter being moreover so arranged as to cause the tie leaf to be cut even when the hands are out of register. The breakage of the leaf is kept to a minimum by the manner in which the cutting is effected resulting in the making of a clean cut. The apparatus embodies means to prevent tobacco from building up and wedging itself between the blades, such means serving as a self-cleaning device. This latter and the simplicity of the mechanism and the absence of small moving parts make the apparatus substantially free of breakdowns.

To the accomplishment of these objects and such other objects as may hereinafter appear, the present invention relates to the cutter apparatus as is sought to be defined in the appended claims, taken together with the following specification and accompanying drawings in which:

Fig. 1 is a side elevational view of the tie leaf cutter of the present invention (with certain parts omitted for clarity);

Fig. 2 is an end elevational view thereof;

Fig. 3 is an end elevational view, shown to an enlarged scale, of the rotary cutter thereof, with parts broken away and other parts shown in section; and

Fig. 4 is a section through the rotary cutter of Fig. 3 with parts broken away.

Referring now more in detail to the drawings, and having reference first to Figs. 1 and 2 thereof, the tie leaf cutter of the invention comprises in generic combination, a movable conveyor belt A for carrying and conveying the tobacco hands to be cut, a member B preferably in the form of an endless pendant chain movable over and at the same speed as the conveyor belt A for engaging and holding down the tobacco hands for the cutting operation and a rotary cutter C rotatively mounted above said conveyor belt and at one side of the chain member B, said cutter being provided with peripherally mounted blades movable into cutting engagement with the tie leaves of the tobacco hands, suitable motor means being provided for moving said conveyor belt, chain member and rotary cutter in timed relation.

In the general operation of the apparatus, the hands of tobacco 10, 10 are placed on the conveyor belt A (at the right of Fig. 1), and the conveyor belt traveling, from right to left carries the hands under the pendant chain member B which by its weight engages and holds down the hands on the conveyor belt, and then functioning together with the conveyor belt feeds the hands tothe peripherally mounted blades 12, 12 of the rotary cutter C. When the hands 10, 10 pass under the blades of the rotary cutter, there is a positive pressure between the cutting edges of the blades and the conveyor belt causing the leaf to be cut thru as indicated at 14 after which the holddown chain member B and the conveyor belt A feed the hands forward for further processing.

The endless chain member B is trained over the spaced sprockets 16 and 18 and is permitted to hang loose onto the conveyor belt A, the chain member being driven in the arrowed direction by the sprocket 18 at the same speed as the conveyor belt so that the chain section that engages and holds down the hands 10, 10 travels in unison with hands and the conveyor belt. The sprocket 18, fixed to the shaft 20 is driven by the motor 22 thru the sprockets 24 and 26 and the connecting sprocket chain 28. r v. 1

The rotary cutter C, as best shown in Figs. 3 and 4, comprises a head 30 formed at its periphery with slots 32, 32 for receiving and holding the blades 12, 12 and is provided with a hub 34 fixed to a shaft 36 the axis of which is arranged perpendicular to the direction of move: ment of the conveyor belt A. The slots 32, 32, and, therefore, its blades 12, 12 mounted therein are arranged on the rotary cutter, in the direction of cutter rotation, at an acute angle, such as 15", with reference to radial lines of the cutter, this angle playing an important part in the cutting action of the blades. The blades have their cutting edges parallel to the cutter axis, i.e. the,

shaft 36. The blades, besides being held by the slots, are locked in place by clamp plates 38, 38 and clamp plate screws 40, 40, one plate on each side of the cutter being arranged to block a pair of blades.

The cutter C is also powered by the motor 22, being driven thereby by the sprockets 42 and 44, fixed respectively to the motor and cutter shafts, and the connecting chain 46. However, the rotary cutter is rotated to move the blades 12, 12 at a linear speed greater than the linear speed of the conveyor belt A, the surface speed of the blades being about fifteen percent (15%) faster than the belt speed. This faster knife speed together with the aforedescribed acute angle of the blades gives a good cutting action, and helps to prevent a pileup of tobacco hands to the right of the blades (as viewed in Fig. 1).

Fitted over the cutter C and loosely mounted about the head 30 thereof is a cage 48, comprising two oppositely positioned rings 50 and 52 held together by cross members or cross rods 54, 54. The cross rods 54 are arranged between and in alternation with the blades 12, 12 as best shown in Fig. 3. The cage 48 is free to move circumferentially to the limits of clearance between the cross rods and the blades and is free to move radially to the In'addition, the cross rods 54, being free to engage the hands, also help to hold down the leaf during the cutting operation.

The hold down chain B, the cutter C and the motive means therefore are suitably supported in a framework generally designated as 56 which may be mounted for suitable height adjustment by the adjusting means 58 and 60.

The structure, mode of operation or use and the functioning of the tie leaf cutter of the invention will in the main be fully apparent from the above description thereof. Itwill befurther apparent that changes may be made in construction and arrangement of the parts of the apparatus-without departing from the invention as defined in the following claims.

. I claim:

1. A tobacco hand tie leaf cutter comprising a movable conveyor belt for carrying and conveying the tobacco hands to be cut, a member movable over and at the same speed as said belt for engaging and holding down the tobacco hands for the cutting operation, a rotary cutter mounted above said conveyor belt and at one side of said member and rotatable about an axis perpendicular to the direction of movement of the conveyor belt, said cutter being provided with peripherally mountedblades'movable in the direction of movement of said conveyor belt into cutting engagement with the tie leaves of the tobacco hands, a cage loosely mounted about said cutter and rotatable by and with said cutter and provided with cross members arranged between and in alternation with said blades, said cage being free to move on said cutter to the limits of the clearance between the cross rodsand the blades, and means for moving said member and rotating said cutter in timed relation.

2. In a tobacco hand tie leaf cutter, a rotary cutter head provided with fixed peripherally mounted extending blades movable into cutting engagement with the tie leaves of tobacco hands fed beneath the cutter head, and a cage loosely mounted about and rotatable by and said cutter head, said cage being provided with cross members arranged between and in alternation with said blades, said cage being free to move circumferentially to the limits of clearance between the cross members and the blades and being free to move to the limits of clearance radially between the cross members and said cutter head.

3. The tobacco hand tie leaf cutter of claim 2 in which the cage compn'ses rings loosely positioned on opposite sides of the cutter head and united by said cross members, said cage being'freeto move axially in the clearance between said rings and the cutter head.

4. A tobacco hand tie leaf cutter comprising a movable conveyor belt for carrying and conveying the tobacco hands to be cut, a member movable over and at the same speed as said belt for engaging and holding down the tobacco hands for the cutting operation, a rotary cutter mounted above said conveyor belt and at one side of said member and rotatable about an axis perpendicular to the direction of movement of theconveyor belt, said cutter being provided with peripherally mounted blades the cutting edges'of which lie parallel to said axis, said blades being movable over the conveyor belt in the direction of movement of said conveyor belt into cutting engagement with the tie leaves of the tobacco hands and exerting a positive cutting pressure between the cutting edges of the blades and the conveyor belt, and means for moving said member and rotating said cutter in timed relation.

5. The tobacco hand tie leaf cutter of claim 4 in which the blades are fixed on the rotary cutter in the direction of cutter rotation at an acute angle with reference to radial lines of the cutter.

6. The tobacco hand tie leaf cutter of claim 5 in which the rotary cutter is rotated to move the blades at a linear speed'greater than-the linear speed of the belt;

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 

